Cargo Description: Bound from Charlevoix, Michigan to Milwaukee with a load of cord wood and railroad ties.

Length: 119.50

Beam: 22.80

Depth of Hold: 6.60

Hull Material: wood

Gross Tonnage: 146.16

Propulsion Type: sail

Rig Type: schooner

Vessel

Location

Body of Water: Lake Michigan

County: Milwaukee

Nearest City: Milwaukee

Latitude: N 43° 03.725'

Longitude: W 087° 52.055'

Vessel

Builder

Registry Number: 75530

Builder: J.P. Decoudres

Year Built: 1873

Location Built: Ventura (Holland), Michigan

Home Port: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Final Voyage

"At 8 in the morning the three masted schooner, J.P. Decondres, of Grand Haven, from Charlevoix, Michigan, for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a cargo of cord-wood and railroad ties, stranded about one mile north of the life-saving station at the entrance to Milwaukee Harbor, and became a total wreck, her crew of six men and a passenger named Cortis being rescued by the life-saving crew. It appears from the reports of the occurrence that the vessel was bearing up for the harbor when her her steering-gear became disabled by the heavy seas then running, and before she could be got under control she drove ashore in the breakers. The life-saving crew witnessed the accident and it was proposed to go to the schooner's assistance in the surf boat... The shipwrecked people were immediately conducted to the station... Within twelve hours after her stranding the schooner became a total wreck, although a portion of the cargo was saved. The life-saving crew subsequently recovered the schooner's anchors and chains and her spars and rigging, and turned them over to the captain." United States Life-Saving Service 1882

Service History

The three masted wooden schooner J.P. Decondres was built on the hull of the scow-schooner Appleton, official number 1551, in 1873 at Ventura (Holland), Michigan. In 1874 the vessel was valued at $2,500 and rated B2. Her official number was 75530.